Prison looms for BP's grandson following guilty verdict

Steven Molinaro, the borough president's grandson, is looking at anywhere from five to 25 years behind bars, after a jury convicted him yesterday of seeking to intimidate the paperboy he'd previously assaulted.

The foreman's "Guilty" came down like a hammer at 11:30 a.m., ending the weeklong trial that was marked by conflicting testimony.

Peter Hinckley, the prosecutor imported from Manhattan as a conflict-of-interest precaution, gave a slight victorious pump of the fist.

Cheryl Molinaro, the defendant's mother, collapsed into the arms of family members amid tearful shouts of "I love you, Steve!" that rang through the courtroom in state Supreme Court, St. George.

"He didn't do it," Ms. Molinaro wailed as security officers handcuffed her 18-year-old son and led him away as he hung his head.

"Obviously I'm disappointed," Borough President James P. Molinaro said late yesterday afternoon. "I know he's innocent. I think that most people that heard the testimony know he's innocent."

"I think being my grandson hurt him," Molinaro added, noting Hinckley's pointed references to the borough president throughout the trial and during his closing arguments. "It definitely didn't do him any good."

Steven Molinaro is due to be sentenced Oct. 15.

The five-to-25 sentencing range carries over from the felony assault charge he copped to in October last year for assaulting Mark Veras, an Advance carrier who was then 14 years old.

He was convicted yesterday of violating the terms of his interim supervision.

During pretrial hearings in June following Molinaro's arrest on the allegation that he rode by Veras' home on Florida Avenue in Arrochar and glared at the youth and his mother, Noelia Barbosa, Brooklyn Justice Alan D. Marrus indicated that Molinaro could face the minimum five years upon conviction.

"He wasn't there," Cheryl Molinaro screamed through tears as she walked through the courthouse hallway following the stunning verdict.

"All they did was put an innocent boy in prison," she cried. "He didn't do anything."

Molinaro's attorneys, Joseph Sorrentino and James Culleton, presented evidence that Molinaro was in school at 5 p.m. on May 22, when Veras and Mrs. Barbosa claimed they saw him staring from the front-passenger seat of a blue BMW registered to the borough president. Sorrentino said he plans to appeal the verdict.

Joann Calabro, assistant principal at the Young Adult Borough Center, where Molinaro attended classes daily from 4:30 to 9 p.m., kept an attendance log showing that Molinaro arrived at the school at exactly 4:50 p.m.

And James Crupi, owner of Fix-A-Dent Auto Body in West Brighton, testified that the blue BMW was in his charge on the day in question for repair of a shattered window and scrapes and dents.

In addition, Veras and Mrs. Barbosa -- who are suing Steven and Cheryl Molinaro for $1 million -- gave conflicting accounts of the incident.

Veras said his mother was home at "4, 4:10 [p.m.] -- on the couch watching TV with my stepfather," while he prepared for the first half of his paper route.

Following her son on the stand, Mrs. Barbosa recalled being on a bus on her way home from her job in Manhattan crossing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge when she noticed the time on her cell phone was 4:38 p.m.

She claimed she arrived home at 4:45 p.m. and was helping her son about 15 minutes later when he shouted, "Look, Ma, it's Steve."

Cell phone records showed that Mrs. Barbosa called her attorney from her cell phone at 4:56 p.m., three minutes before she received a call from her home phone. Noting that a bus schedule specified an arrival time near Florida Avenue at 4:59 p.m., Sorrentino submitted that Mrs. Barbosa was actually on the bus and could not have seen Molinaro if indeed he passed by her home at 5 p.m.

But all 12 jurors disregarded the contradictions.

"I think the jury rendered a terrible decision," Sorrentino said outside the courtroom. "Steven Molinaro was not there. How they could not find reasonable doubt based upon the testimony of his principal and his teacher is ... unbelievable."

"We're extremely disappointed," added co-counsel Culleton.

Jurors were whisked out of the courtroom immediately following the verdict and none were available for comment.

"I can't say anything," said Hinckley, the special prosecutor, who referred all queries to his office's media liaison.